We Are Drawn To People With Better Immune Systems

Damn son, you smell mad healthy

I know everyone talks about beauty being in the eye of the beholder, or that looks are something that people see (I can just hear my friend saying something along the lines of “that gurl was bad” in reference to a pretty girl that walked by) and use to gauge attractiveness. But what about other factors? Sure, people go straight to things like personality and sense of humor, but does anyone ever think about smell? Well, I’m sure it’s given a pre-functionary mentions, as in “if they don’t smell then that’s good,” but no one ever really goes into attraction based on smell. Studies have found that women tend to rely more on their sense of smell then their sense of sight when looking for someone “attractive.”  But why is that?

Research suggests that women are more attracted to men based on their smell, because it gives women a sense of what their immune system is like.  Specifically, women tend to find men with stronger immune systems, and more testosterone in their system, as more attractive. This was found by researchers at Abertay University in the U.K. Their study utilized 74 men in their early 20s, along with the hepatitis B vaccine (which triggers antibodies to be made by the immune system), and asked women to rate how attractive the men were based on a point scale. The research showed that those who had the vaccine were rated as more attractive because it caused them to release a certain smell, or pheromone, which told women that they were healthy (Murdoch, 2012).

Biologically and evolutionarily, this makes sense. Women should, in a Darwinian sense, want to mate and reproduce with as healthy a mate as possible. As such, it would make sense that if their immune system “smelled” stronger they would be more attractive. But what about the testosterone levels? Greater levels appear to have impacted how men looked and thus changed the way in which they were perceived. Perhaps these levels also made men more attractive to women, and the smell of their immune system was just another factor. Food for thought.   -Cassey

References

Furlow, F. B. (1996). The smell of love. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200910/the-smell-love

Murdoch, C. (2012). It’s his immune system that you actually want to sleep with. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://jezebel.com/5887562/its-his-immune-system-that-you-actually-want-to-sleep-with

Rantala, M. J., Coetzee, V., Moore, F. R., Skrinda, I., Kecko, S., Krama, T., Kivleniece, I., & Krams, I. (2013). Facial attractiveness is related to women’s cortisol and body fat, but not with immune responsiveness. Biology Letters, 9. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0255

Rodriguez, L. (2008). Mate selection chemistry facts. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://whatwewomenwant.org/mate_selection_chemistry.html

Edited by: Brandon Harrower